Theodicy

John 11:35 is, to me, one of the most profound statements in the Bible. John tells the story of how Jesus heard of his friend Lazarus who was sick and probably on his death bed. Strangely, he doesn't leave right away, and by the time he gets to Bethany Lazarus is dead. In fact, he's been dead for at least 4 days, because he was buried 4 days ago! If only Jesus had arrived earlier. After all, he is the miracle worker who has been healing people all through Palestine. If only he had left when he heard the news about Lazarus. If only... In our grief how many times have we asked ourself "if only?"

As Jesus arrives, he sees the family and his friends grieving for the loss of their friend Lazarus. He sees the crowds crying out in anguish and emotion as Lazarus lies in the tomb. Since he is a friend of Jesus, I imagine that Lazarus was around Jesus' age. Maybe they had known each other since boy hood. Maybe Lazarus left behind a wife and kids. Maybe his parents were still around and grieving the worse kind of grief, of a parent outliving their child.

Now that Jesus has arrived, you expect everything to be ok- except this time this is death! He is not healing someone. Can he bring someone back to life? As he looks around and sees his friends, maybe even his family, grieving and weeping. Jesus, the miracle worker, the fixer of problems, the One with answers suddenly does the unthinkable. John 11:35 says simply, "Jesus wept." End of sentence. No descriptor. Pointedly and suddenly, Jesus wept. He didn't cry. He didn't tear up. He wept. The one who brought forth all life wept!

Jesus' response to death is not to fix the problem. He doesn't run in and try to cheer everyone up. He is simply there. He is there in pain. He is there in sympathy. He doesn't offer a pithy statement, he weeps. He knows their pain. He knows their grief, and he allows it. He even endorses it. He weeps.

I can't explain pain. Theologically, we call this problem of pain theodicy. I have no idea why it happens. Now, I get that there is sin and because of sin there is death. I get that abstractly, but not personally. When I visit the hospital to see church members and I see cancer. I see children. I see families grieving. I don't get it. Why does it have to be this way? Why is there this problem of theodicy? Where is God?

Jesus wept.

I may not get why there is pain and death and sickness, but I do know that in the hospital room, in the funeral parlor, in the graveyard, in the loneliness of an empty house, Jesus weeps.